The 112-foot-wide dam is on the Pawcatuck River, about a half-mile
upstream from downtown. Work has been scheduled to begin next year, but that
timeframe could be in trouble. Federal Sandy funds totaling $1.9 million are
earmarked for the project, but that money must be used next year.
With the approval of the legislation Dec. 12, any work on the river must
face review and approval by the National Park Service and Army Corps of Engineers.
It’s now unclear whether that approval process by the federal government could
be completed to meet the funding deadline.
Work in the river can only be done July through October. If the
project doesn’t begin in July because of a federal review, it would have to be
rescheduled for the following year.
Asked about the possible need for National Park Service
approval, Scott Comings, associate director for the Rhode Island Chapter of The
Nature Conservancy, said his group is trying to figure out what the designation
means to the dam removal project.
“We are trying to figure that out,” Comings said Dec. 15, three
days after the legislation was passed. “We have to ask the park service. We are
working with all the players. We don’t know what the process would be. Chris
Fox is working on researching that for us.”
Fox, the executive director of the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed
Association, said that if the approval process stops the work on the dam’s
removal in July it will in essence kill the project.
The federal government would take back the Sandy funds, divide
them up and give them to other projects that might be over budget, Fox said.
“I have no idea how long it takes (for National Park Service
approval),” he said. “It could be one week or they could say we want to freeze
any projects on the river during the three-year study phase on whether the
watershed could be designated wild and scenic.
“The study phase of wild and scenic provides equal or greater
protection to rivers in the study group than those already in the country’s
wild and scenic inventory. Guidance offered on the (National Park Service) website indicated that any
federally assisted water resources projects consult with the National Park
Service. This consultation will likely occur between the Army Corps of
Engineers and the National Park Service during the permitting phase. It is
unclear how long that process will take. I imagine it is dependent upon
how quickly the NPS can respond to the permit application, which makes it
difficult to determine if the consultation will result in any project delay.”
The plan calls for removing the dam and creating a new 70- to
90-foot wide river channel below it. Bids for the work are being sought this
month and a contract should be awarded in early January, according to Comings.
White Rock would be the third dam on the Pawcatuck River
earmarked either for removal or modification. The effort is designed to improve
fish passage on the 20-mile waterway that stretches from Worden’s Pond in South
Kingstown to Little Narragansett Bay. The work is expected to reduce flooding
above the site.
About 15 miles upstream, the Kenyon Dam and Lower Shannock Falls
Dam have been removed, while a fish ladder was built at historic Horseshoe
Falls.